Cries For Help
by Chilly Penguin
Summary: Val's sister Brooke is born. She's jealous that Brooke gets all the attention and runs away. What happens to her then? Please reveiw and then chapter two will be uploded!
1. Jealousy

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the "In a Heartbeat" characters except for the ones I make up because The Disney Channel or Atlantis Alliance or whoever do

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the "In a Heartbeat" characters except for the ones I make up because The Disney Channel or Atlantis Alliance or whoever do. Also, I am not making any profit on any of my fanfiction.net stories. 

Author's Note: Okay, after my last story, "Behind the Scenes" bombed as I thought it would, I thought it was time to make a comeback. I am still working on my story "Witness" but I figured I should put out another story in case people don't like how I chose to continue the story. Anyway, I know the first chapter is kind of short, but that's what other chapters are for, right? I have ideas to continue the story if you like it and I have ideas for other stories as well in case you don't like this one either. Hope you enjoy! ~ Chilly Penguin

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"Cries For Help"

Chapter 1: "Jealousy"

He had always wanted a child. Not a baby, but a child. Babies were messy; too much work for him. You had to buy and change poopy diapers, buy special formulas and jars and jars of Gerber baby food. Plus, they always threw up and spittled all over the place. And worst of all, they would keep on wailing until they got exactly what they wanted, which was almost never guessed right the first time around. So, he wanted a child. A potty-trained, well-mannered child. At first, he thought the only way for him to get a child – minus the baby stage – was to adopt one from an orphanage or foster home. But, not one single orphanage or foster home would allow him to adopt, he knew. Not in a million years. He had a foot-long police record. He sat down in the old rocking chair that stood in the corner of his tiny living room, and a brilliant idea came to him. He had a perfect, foolproof plan that would allow him to get a child of his own, and no one would be the wiser…

Four-year-old Val Lanier slammed the front door and stomped down the steps that let to the front lawn.

"If Mommy doesn't love me anymore, them I'm just gonna leave," Val muttered angrily under her breath as she lifted one leg over her tricycle. "She prob'ly won't miss me anyway."

Val's mother had just brought home Baby Brooke, the new baby, and with her dad gone to work, and her mom always doing things to please the baby, Val got no attention whatsoever. And children _need_ attention. They practically _thrive_ on attention. Anyway, only when Val's mother asked her to grab her something for the baby, _then_ Val received praise. Other than that, her mom was way too busy for her.

"If Mommy loves Baby Brooke more than she loves me, then I'm gonna run away," Val fumed as she pedaled down the sidewalk. She pedaled until her house was almost completely out of view.

He drove down the tree-canopied streets of Kingsport, searching the sidewalks for any sign of life, his eyes narrowed.

All of a sudden, he spotted a figure slowly coming toward him. He speeded up a little bit and saw that it was an adorable blonde-haired blue-eyed little girl in a pair of blue jean overalls and a pink flower-pattern shirt. She looked angry about something, but he figured she was cute enough to be his child anyway. 

He slowed his car to a halt as the little girl on the tricycle became only feet away from him. He slowly took a step out of his car and plastered a friendly smile on his face. 

  
He walked up to the child and said, "Hello, little girl."

Little Val Lanier looked up at the man standing in front of her uncertainly and said, "Hello," in a voice barely above a whisper.

"What's your name, Little Girl?" he asked.

She pursed her lips for a moment and replied politely, "I'm sorry, mister, but I'm not s'possed to give strangers my name." Then she added, "Um, mister? Could you move out of the way so I can ride my tricycle?"

His short temper flared for a minute, then cooled. _Okay, that's enough of my "I'm Mister Nice Guy" games, _he thought to himself. In one quick sweeping motion, he had one of his hairy, muscular arms around Little Val's waist and the other hand over her mouth as she tried to scream out in terror. His hand slipped off her mouth as he plopped her down in the passenger seat of his car long enough for her to yell out a blood curdling scream. "_MOMMY!"_ He slammed the door as she was in mid-scream and she began to cry.

"Val? Val-l-l-l…" Mrs. Lanier called. "Val, honey, where are you?"

"Whaaaaaaaa!" came Baby Brooke's wail.

"Sshh, baby, don't cry," her mother said. "Val?" She searched the house inside out and still she couldn't find Val. She hadn't seen her for almost half an hour now, and she was getting extremely frantic with worry. "_VAL!?" _she called again.

She went out to the garage, Baby Brooke still in her arms and searched the garage for her. _Hmmm…I wonder where her trike is…_ her mother pondered. _Oh no! She went on the trike by herself! _Her mother was sobbing uncontrollably by now. Val could be anywhere. She ran into the house and carefully – but hurriedly – put Baby Brooke into her crib. She dashed into the kitchen and dialed her husband's work phone number quickly. "Hello, Nick?" she panted.

"Yeah, honey, what's wrong?"

"_VAL'S MISSING!" _she sobbed.

"Huh? VAL'S MISSING?!" he said, horrified. "I'm on my way home, honey. Keep looking for her!" 

~ So, what do you guys think? I know it's kinda short but I wanted to see if you like the idea before I kept on going for pages and pages and pages. Anyway, (hint, hint, nudge, nudge, wink, wink, chuckle, chuckle – I think you get the idea) PLEASE REVIEW! ~ Chilly P


	2. Dirty

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the "In a Heartbeat" characters featured in this story. No profit is being made.

Author's Note: I'm so sorry it's taken me this long to write the next chapter, but I've really been focusing on "Witness," which I think I am losing many readers and may discontinue. But maybe not cuz it's almost done. Anyway, I don't know how long this is going to turn out, but onward readers!

Chapter 2: "Dirty"

Val was too stunned to cry, or whine, or scream the whole time she was in that mean man's car going somewhere. She just sat there, regretting the fact that she had run away all because she was jealous of Baby Brooke. She was so ashamed of herself. 

Finally, the car came to a stop in front of a tiny, battered house. The man opened the door and went around the passenger side. He opened that door, and grabbed Val's puny arm and pulled her out of the car. It hurt so much.

He then took her inside the house, and down into the basement. He took a pair of handcuffs from his pocket and put one of them on Val's hand and the other on a pole.   
  
"I'm going to go get dinner. If I hear one peep out of you then…" he made a slashing noise as he brought his finger across his neck menacingly. "Understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good." He went up the stairs. Val curled up into a ball on the basement floor and cried herself to sleep. 

__

Two Weeks Later…

Val smelled garbage. The smell almost gagged her. She couldn't stand the smell of herself. She hadn't had a bath in two weeks, and the man only let her come upstairs to go to the bathroom twice a day. He brought down measly food for her twice a day also. Val had lost ten pounds since she came here. She lifted her head up from her knees as she heard the door going down to the basement open. The man appeared, and went to go undo her handcuffs, when he had a good whiff of her. "Weeewweeee! Don't you smell! You're getting a bath."

He led her upstairs, peeled off her disgusting clothes and put them in the washing machine. He then filled up the bathtub and made her wash her hair and body by herself. He rushed to go get the clothes from the dryer when the bell went off, and rushed back and gave them to Val. He said that she could stay upstairs for a little while and have breakfast and watch TV with him, but only if she didn't talk. She agreed readily, and he brought her into the kitchen and gave her a bowl of cereal. He turned the TV onto Channel 7 and the _Today_ show flashed across the screen. Val watched in horror as her sobbing mother, crying father, and scared Baby Brooke came on the screen, pleading for information about their lost daughter whose picture was shown. He couldn't get, "Wow, you're parents are really worried about you, kid," before Val screamed at the top of her lungs, "MOMMY! DADDY!"

He exploded and grabbed Val by the shoulders, and went down the hall to his bedroom where he threw her on the bed. She began to cry uncontrollably as he peeled the newly clean clothes from her tiny body. She began to scream and kick, and he pulled out a knife and aimed it at her maniacally to make her stop. She allowed her body calm out of fear of what he might do. He began to unbutton his pants, and what he did next was enough to traumatize Val for the rest of her life…

That's how Val lived for a year and a half. Having a bath only two times a month, never getting new clothes. She had lost sixty pounds since the time when she arrived in this horrid place. You'd think she'd have learned her lesson, but every time she saw herself featured on _America's Missing Children _shows or _Have you seen me? _Postcards, Val would run into hysterics and the man would torture her and harass her the same way every time. 

A year and a half after he brought the little girl to his place, he thought that the neighbors were beginning to become nosy and suspect something. He knew it was no longer safe here. He decided to move to another state, but he couldn't take Little Val with him. That was too risky. Although he loved her in his own perverted way, he knew he'd have to drop her off somewhere where she'd be found almost immediately, but without him being caught. He knew that she knew his name, had heard it at least once or twice when he slipped and talked to himself, and that could be trouble. He just knew that he'd have to threaten her some way that she'd never forget. And he did in the most disgusting way possible.

He dragged Val, now six years old into his old, beat-up station wagon that night, and drove to the school nearest the place where he'd found her. He pushed her out of the car and pushed the accelerator until he was out of sight completely.

Val, suddenly more alone than ever, went into a corner by the playground and curled into a ball until someone tapping her awakened her. She looked up and shielded her eyes from the blaring sun. The person immediately recognized who she was from the numerous television programs and flyers she'd been on, and rushed to give the poor little girl a hug. When she became only a few inches from the girl, the little girl cowered and shook to her touch. Poor thing, she thought just before she picked up the frail little girl and brought her inside to where she phoned the police, hospital, and Little Val's parents.

~ So people, what do you think? I know it's awfully short, but whatever. PLEASE REVIEW! ~ 


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